Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 26.26 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 37-38. Good VF.

Triton XXVII
Lot: 675. Estimated: $ 3 000

Roman Imperial, Bronze, Coin-in-Hand Video

Sold For $ 8 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 26.26 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 37-38. C • CAESAR • AVG • GERMANICVS • PON M • TR • POT •, laureate head left / AGRIPPINA on left, DRVSILLA above, IVLIA on right, S • C in exergue, Gaius' three sisters standing facing: Agrippina (as Securitas), head right, holding cornucopia in right hand and leaning on column, placing left hand on shoulder of Drusilla (as Concordia), head left, holding patera in right hand and cornucopia in left; on right, Julia (as Fortuna), head left, holding rudder in right hand and cornucopia in left. RIC I 33; BMCRE 36 -7; BN 47-9. Green-brown patina, light porosity. Good VF. An attractive coin in hand.

From the Wayne Scheible Collection.

On this popular and beautiful reverse, the three sisters of Gaius “Caligula” – Drusilla, Julia Livilla, and Agrippina the Younger – are honored and portrayed as goddesses. All three were deeply involved in deadly Julio-Claudian politics. Caligula’s hostile biographers depict him as excessively and unnaturally fond of his sisters, Drusilla in particular, whom he named as his primary heir in AD 37, while he was suffering from a near-fatal illness. Drusilla herself died of a virulent plague in 38 AD at the age of 22, plunging Caligula into violent grief. He gave her a state funeral befitting an Augusta and ordered the Senate to deify her. In his depression, Caligula's affections for his remaining sisters cooled and they took to plotting against him, for which he ultimately banished them to the Pontian Islands. After Caligula’s assassination in AD 41, the new emperor, his uncle Claudius, rescinded his nieces’ exile. Julia Livilla soon fell afoul of Claudius’ wife Messalina, who had her imprisoned and starved to death in AD 42. Messalina herself overreached and was executed in AD 48. The following year, Claudius married his surviving niece Agrippina and she quickly became the most powerful woman the Roman Empire had yet seen.

The final winners of all Triton XXVII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 9-10 January 2024.

Triton XXVII – Session Three – Lot 648–983 will be held Wednesday morning, 10 January 2024 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.